Them
by AllusionToAnIllusion
Summary: Their journey through the eyes of a stranger. Caskett.
1. Real

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Castle_ or its characters, if I did a certain season finale would have ended much differently...**

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The first time I saw them was in a photograph. My son-in-law, Robert, is a photographer for a magazine and was covering a fundraising gala. He had wanted my opinion on which photographs to present to his boss, although why he wanted the opinion of an eighty year-old woman on something usually reserved for young people still stumps me. But this isn't about me, it's about them. At least I'm pretty sure they were a them, they had to be a them. Or maybe a separate he and she who desperately wanted to be a them. No matter what they were at that time anyone could see, even an old lady, that they were destined to be a them. I had looked through each photograph carefully, asking whom these people were and if they were important. I didn't really care for any of the photos, Rob was a great photographer but I didn't like the people in them. Not that I had met any of them, I could just feel their vibe; fake. Fake smiles plastered onto perfect faces that were searching for nothing but the flashes in the crowd. Then I came across the picture of them, this photo was much different than the others. Instead of fake smiles sweet endearing ones crossed their faces as they looked not at the cameras, but at each other. Anybody could tell that these two had something special, it radiated from the paper in my hands. I told Rob that he should present that one and a few others that didn't disgust me as much as the rest, but to really push that one. He had asked me why, why should he get his boss to publish a photo where the people weren't even looking at the camera? I still remember my answer clearly, because it's real. What those people had was undeniably real, and their emotions shot off the page.

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	2. Over

The next time I saw them the mood was much different between them. I had been in the hospital visiting my friend who had just had a heart attack when I saw them exit the room just down the hall. I recognized them instantly as the couple from the photograph a couple of months back, and I couldn't stop watching them. I know it wasn't polite to spy on these people like that, but I just wasn't able to tear my eyes away. She exited the room all smiles but his mood was a clear contrast; reserved and serious. Although I couldn't hear them I could tell that the woman was trying to get him to smile, but he wouldn't give in. Suddenly the mood changed between them completely, he said something and her smile turned into a disbelieving frown as she backed away from him. He quickly tried to explain, pleading with her to understand whatever had caused the swift change in her, but she was having none of it. Now she was sad and distant, cool to the touch. The woman wouldn't look him in the eye and was desperately trying to get away from him, to escape whatever he had brought into their world. Then he made his fatal mistake, he reached out to touch her arm, and she snapped. She shot up from the bench yelling at him, asking how he could so such a thing and screaming that they were over as she stormed out of the corridor and out the doors. At first he tried to stop her, calling her name as he ran after her, but she told him to stay away. From this exchange I learned that her name was Kate and she called him Castle, which I assumed was a nickname of some sort. I had also confirmed my suspicions; they had been a them. But they weren't anymore, and I could tell from the look on the man's face that he wasn't ready for it to be over; that he never would be.

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	3. Reuniting

It had been a long time since the hospital and I hadn't seen them since that night. Well, I hadn't seen them together that is. I had seen him in the tabloids on the stands I passed everyday on my morning walks, though I didn't know who he was because I didn't stop to read the captions. And I had seen her once, exiting a car and walking up to an apartment building. I assumed she lived there since she didn't really seem like she was in the mood to see or talk to anyone. That was about one month after the hospital, and she still looked sad and lonely. It was easy to tell that she missed him, much more than she would care to admit. But now they were sitting across from me laughing merrily like that night had never happened. I had been eating at a restaurant I have been going to for years, Remy's, when not thirty minutes later they walked in arm in arm. He was carrying a garment bag and I could see a scarlet fabric poking out of it; I assumed it was a dress she had been wearing earlier. They both looked much happier than before, especially her. There was an ever-present grin on her face as she twirled her hair. They were joking and teasing each other playfully as they sat on either side of the booth never taking their eyes off of the other. The waitress, I knew her as Becky, knew them well so I gathered that they had been regulars here for a long time. When she came over to take my order she caught me staring at them and quickly commented that Kate and Rick were one of the cutest couples she had seen in a long time. So they were a couple again, even though it was blatantly obvious I liked the reassurance that everything was all right with these people. Kate and Rick, I didn't think it was appropriate to use the nickname she had given him for that seemed to be hers, were them.

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	4. Truth

The final time I saw them I wasn't nearly as carefree and neither were they, well she wasn't. I had driven over to my niece's apartment with my brother Ben for some good old family time when we discovered her body. I didn't get a good look at it, I didn't want to, but I knew it was her that was lying on the bathroom floor the moment I walked in. I stayed with Ben to help comfort him and to give the police my statement. And then they walked into the living room together heading right for me. He seemed excited and she was trying to tone him down as she approached me, she had mostly succeeded by the time they reached the couch. She told me that she was Detective Kate Beckett and that the man was Richard Castle. That just served to confuse me further Richard Castle was a novelist and a very famous one at that, what was he doing following around a detective? Then I remembered what Rob had told me about two years ago, Richard Castle was following around the cop he was basing his character Nikki Heat off of. So she was his inspiration, his muse. After I had given my statement, with them working together in perfect harmony, I was free to go. But before I did I decided to be bold and tell them what I had been aching to say since I had seen their photograph long ago. I walked up to the pair and told them they made a wonderful couple, as I did so the two male detectives in back of them started snickering and I wondered what was so funny. It was then that Detective Beckett informed me that they were not a couple while Mr. Castle added a 'yet' to the end of her sentence, which earned him a glare. So they weren't a couple, they weren't a them; they were just Kate and Rick. But in at least one of their eyes that was only temporary. I quickly stated that they would be and walked off after winking at a very shocked Detective Beckett. And now, two years later, I'm staring down at their wedding announcement like I knew I would be all along.

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